Rick Stein, the celebrity chef, says he was offered a starring role in The
Great British Bake Off, but turned it down.

After his marital problems last year, Paul Hollywood lamented that he might have had a better life if he had never found fame in The Great British Bake Off.

“I thought I’d spend my life making baguettes, muffins, croissants. I might have been happier if I had,” he said.

Now, it emerges that the celebrity chef Rick Stein is the man that he has either to thank or to blame for his fame. “I was offered The Great British Bake Off, although I had no trouble turning it down,” Stein admits to Hello! magazine.

He feels, however, that Hollywood and Mary Berry are both perfect for the series.

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